1978 Synthetic Writers

Chapter 364 "I am mortal when I kneel down, but immortal when I stand up."

"I was originally planning to write a review article for your novel, but then this happened to Ingres," Nie Hualing said with a look of regret.

"It's okay. I appreciate your kindness. You've done enough for me." Jiang Xian comforted.

During his trip to the United States, Nie Hualing provided him with most of his food, drinks, and accommodation. Now she is helping him translate novels and writing literary reviews for him. How can he bear this? You can't take advantage of her like this!

"correct."

Nie Hualing added: "The 'Writing Project' requires you to copy your works and submit them to the teachers of the 'Writing Class' for internal recommended reading. We copied a few of Ru Zhijuan and Wang Anyi's novels from the English version of Chinese Literature. Your work has not been published in the English version of Chinese Literature, and we have not found any English translations, so we did not submit it."

Nie Hualing first told Jiang Xian what happened before, and then suggested: "Why not copy this one and hand it over to the teachers of the 'writing class' to take a look."

"it is good."

Jiang Xian agreed readily.

He had discussed this issue with Chen Yingzhen and Ru Zhijuan before, and all three believed that they should actively present themselves in international writing programs.

Now that he has such an opportunity to show himself, he certainly won't be humble and refuse.

Writing is a very fashionable profession in the United States.

Generous royalties, super popularity brought by various book rankings, and the star quality of a Hollywood gold medal screenwriter.
These have attracted countless active American writers to work hard for them, and many literature lovers who have dreams of becoming writers have joined the team.

In order to meet the dream-chasing needs of this large number of "prospective writers", the United States opened "writing classes" early on, which are specialized institutions aimed at training novelists, poets, and playwrights.

According to statistics, there are about 350 universities in the United States that offer "writing classes," also known as "writers' workshops" or "writers' studios."

Famous schools such as Boston, Stanford, Indiana, and Princeton all offer this course.

The "Writing Class" at the University of Iowa is the earliest "Writing Class" in the United States.

Therefore, the University of Iowa is known as the birthplace of creative writing in the United States and enjoys a high reputation. Students in its "writing class" have won almost all major awards in American literature.

Like Flannery O'Connor's "Wise Blood", "Taken Violently", and "A Good Man Is Hard to Find".
and John Irving's The Widow's Year, The World According to Garp, and The Cider House Rules.
These writers who enjoy a high reputation in the American literary world are all "outstanding students" trained in the "Writing Class" of the University of Iowa.

The famous teachers who taught these "outstanding students" are even more famous.

The writing classes in various universities have brought together a group of powerful leaders and famous teachers.

Robert Frost, Jeffrey Woolf, Joseph Canon, Ahilon Applefield and other writers and poets who are renowned in the world literary world have taught in the "writing class" in Iowa.

At this time, in the "Writing Class" office at the University of Iowa.

The teacher named Anne put down the manuscript in her hand. This was a work by a South Korean writer as part of the "International Writing Project".

"Annie!"

Anne looked up and saw Edwin, the director of the International Writing Program.

"Edwin, why are you here?" Anne kissed Edwin enthusiastically as a greeting.

Edwin pulled out a chair and sat down, asking questions at the same time.

"How about it, Anne? Our writer."

"How should I put it?"

Anne thought for a moment and said, "Excuse me, Edwin, but there are huge differences between writers from different countries."

"Is it?"

Edwin glanced at the manuscript on the table: "Have you just finished reading it? Whose work is this?"

"A writer from South Korea."

"what do you think?"

“It’s not detailed enough, not sophisticated enough.”

Anne commented, "Management, management. We often say that structure is all about management, but most Asian writers are terrible at this. They don't understand structure, let alone management. Their themes are often big and full of ambition and aspirations, but after reading them, you will find that they are poorly written. Compared with writers from other regions, their level is very low."

".Is it."

Edwin was embarrassed but unable to refute, after all, Anne was the teacher of the "writing class".

"Annie, I have a manuscript by a Chinese writer here. You can take a look at it." Edwin took out a stack of photocopies.

“Chinese?”

Annie took it and glanced at it, "Jiang Xian?"

"We didn't find an English translation of his novel before, so we didn't submit it," Edwin explained.

"Okay, I'll take a look."

Anne said, "But to be honest, I don't have high expectations for Chinese writers. At present, I prefer to recommend the novel "Land of Doves" by Israeli writer Fei Er."

"Okay, no matter which one you recommend, I hope you can read this one carefully."

Edwin said, "This novel was translated by Ms. Nie Hualing herself recently."

"Really?"

Annie was surprised, "I think this is a great honor for Jiang Xian."

"They are very good friends. Anyway, remember to tell me the results when you get back home," said Edwin.

He lives in the same house with Anne.

Edwin said goodbye and left.

Anne took a sip of water, spread the manuscript on the table, and glanced at the first line of the front page.

"The Drifter?"

"Sounds a bit like Robinson Crusoe."

This made Anne's eyes light up.

Works of the type "Robinson Crusoe" are rare in the literary world.

Time passed quickly. Anne sat in her seat, reading for an unknown period of time, absorbed in the reading.

It will soon be evening.

Anne returned to her residence, which was a townhouse next to the student dormitory.

This type of villa is home to teachers and students. The price is a little higher than an apartment building, but the comfort is not as good as an apartment because everyone in the house has to share one kitchen.

Anne made herself a bowl of clam chowder and a sandwich and was sitting in the restaurant eating when Edwin came over.

"How about it?"

"awesome!"

Anne showed an excited expression, "Although I haven't finished reading it yet, this novel made me spend a very wonderful afternoon! Edwin, Jiang Xian wrote it very well."

"It seems that your attitude towards Asian writers has changed," said Edwin.

“I never discriminate against regions.”

Anne said seriously, "This novel is really great. It's rare to write such a beautiful story about drifting at sea. If this kind of novel is not handled well, it will be bland and boring. In short, I have a very good impression of this Chinese writer."

"It sounds great, but I haven't read the novel myself yet," said Edwin.

“This novel is worth reading.”

Anne recalled the contents of the novel, "It describes the mysterious Chinese culture, the thrilling confrontation with the tiger, the magnificence of the wonders of the sea, and more importantly, the shaping of the inner world of the characters. Those golden sentences that allow readers to clarify the meaning of life and faith from the perspective of the protagonist are so brilliant!"

"It sounds very decent, like a novel that helps people find their purpose in life again," said Edwin.

"Of course!"

Anne looked convinced.

There are so many beautiful quotes in this novel:
“Choosing doubt as a philosophy of life is like choosing stillness as a mode of transportation.”

“We sacrifice our imagination on the altar of the unvarnished truth, and in the end we are left with nothing to believe in, and our dreams are worthless.”

“When you’ve been through so much pain and suffering in your life, each new pain is both unbearable and insignificant.”

"When I kneel I am mortal, when I rise I am immortal."

"."

All in all, Anne felt that The Drifter was perfect in both plot structure and language expression. After dinner, Anne could not wait to return to the house and read The Drifter.

As the plot progressed, after Fu Sanming finished telling the second story, Annie's face gradually turned pale.

All her understanding of the novel was overturned and then rebuilt by the second story.

Just as she was still feeling frightened, the novel came to its finale.

Mr. Okamoto began to question Fu Sanming. How did he explain the island? How did he explain the meerkats? And whose teeth did he belong to?

Faced with such questions, Fu Sanming answered "I don't know" to all of them.

Then Okamoto asked the last question.

"Pardon my asking, but did the cook say anything about the sinking of the Tsimchum?"

"In this story?"

"Yes."

"He didn't say."

"He didn't say anything that would lead back to the early morning of July 7, anything that might explain what happened?"

"No."

"No mention of any mechanical or structural aspects?"

"No."

"Nothing was said about other ships or other objects at sea?"

"No."

Fu Sanming had no explanation for why the ship sank, only his speculation.

"Who can say what the crew did? I mean maybe some of them let the animals out in a drunken stupor."

"Who has the key to the cage?"

"my father."

"How could the crew get the cage open if they didn't have the key?"

"I don't know. Maybe they used a crowbar."

"Why would they do that? Why would anyone want to release a dangerous wild animal from its cage?"

"I don't know. Who can guess what goes on in a drunk's head? All I can tell you is what happened. The animal got out of the cage."

Fu Sanming believed that some low-ranking crew members released the animals from the cages after getting drunk.

In addition, there are some fragmentary information:

"The boat didn't hit any other boats."

"Fu Sanming heard the explosion."

"The ship sank quickly within 20 minutes, leaving behind a lot of debris."

"There were 25 to 30-foot waves on the sea, which was just a small wave for a cargo ship."

While Annie was looking at these scattered clues, she was thinking rapidly in her head.

If the wind and waves were not strong enough to capsize the freighter, why did the Tsimchum sink?
She couldn't think of an answer.

The answer is not given in the novel.

Because this is a non-fiction novel, the way Jiang Xian wrote this conversation looks exactly like a real recording.

At the end of the recording, Fu Sanming suddenly raised a question:
"So tell me, since it seems to you that there is no factual difference between the two stories, and you cannot prove the point, which story do you prefer? Which story is better, the one with the animals or the one without the animals?"

good question.

Anne couldn't help but ask herself at this time.

The first story and the second story, the story with animals and the story without animals.

Which one does she prefer?

“There are stories about animals.”

Anne gave the same answer as Okamoto.

“Stories with animals are better.”

Fu Sanming replied meaningfully, "Thank you. This is consistent with God's opinion."

At the end of the recording, Okamoto asked Fu Sanming about his future plans.

"I think I'm going to America."

“Not going back to China?”

"No. There's nothing of mine there anymore. Just sad memories."

"Of course, you know you're going to get a huge insurance payout."

The last chapter of the novel is in the format of an investigation report, written in the voice of investigator Okamoto.

"The sole survivor could not give us any information about why the Tsimchum sank.

The ship seemed to be sinking very quickly, suggesting that the hull was severely cracked, and the large amount of wreckage supports this theory. However, the specific cause of the cracking could not be determined.

Weather was at most a factor in the sinking. The cause may have been inside the ship. The survivors believed they heard explosions, which indicated a serious mechanical problem, perhaps a boiler explosion, but this is only speculation.

The vessel was twenty-nine years old, and bad weather combined with fatigue in the vessel's structure may have contributed to the accident, but this is only speculation.

There were no reports of other vessel incidents in that area that day, so there was no possibility of a collision with another vessel; it is possible that a collision with the wreckage could have occurred, but this cannot be confirmed.

Possibly a collision with a floating mine would explain the explosion, but this is only hypothetical and extremely unlikely, as the ship began to sink from the stern, which would only mean that the hull cracking also occurred at the stern.

Survivors have raised questions about the health of the crew, with Koiko claiming that all cargo was completely legal and that they had not noticed anything wrong with any of the senior or regular crew.

The cause of the sinking could not be determined based on the available evidence.

Xiaojing Technology can claim insurance compensation through standard procedures. No further investigation is required. It is recommended to close the case.

As an aside, the story of the sole survivor, Mr. Fu Sanming, is amazing. According to this investigator's experience, his story is unique in the history of shipwrecks.

Few shipwreck survivors have managed to survive as long as Mr Fu Sanming did, and none have managed to do so in the company of a full-grown Bengal tiger.

Anne read the last line of text in a daze.

The long blank space at the end of this novel is simply a stroke of genius.

The novel's excitement has been raised to a new level.

According to the logic in the previous part of the novel, fantasy stories can all correspond to the logic of reality.

So what do those unsolved mysteries correspond to?
What is the truth behind the sinking of the Tsimchum?
Anne kept speculating all the possibilities in her mind, and then she shuddered for no reason.

She could feel the truth of the story floating there, like a ghost on the sea.

Anne has also read some of the horror novels that have been popular in the market recently.

Those novels like to create a suspenseful and terrifying atmosphere.

But the novel The Drifters is different.

He simply tells a positive and challenging story in a straightforward manner.

But as the story goes on, readers find that there is more and more that they don’t know.

In the end, as the story gradually became complete, I felt terrified when I thought about it carefully.

Anne looked around and recalled the contents of the novel "The Drifter". She couldn't help but hug herself tighter, with a hint of uneasiness between her brows.

These Chinese writers must not be provoked.

It's so scary.

(happy New Year to all!)

(End of this chapter)